Governor defends unemployment office

At a news conference Tuesday, Gov. Susana Martinez stood by the Department of Workforce Solutions, even after weeks of complaints from thousands of New Mexicans who have not received their unemployment benefits.

"Checks have already started going out to those individuals, even if there is anything that is behind on payment, those checks are going out this week as well,” Martinez said.

Many unemployed New Mexicans receive their benefits from the EUC program, the federal emergency compensation program, which was extended to Jan. 1, 2014. The EUC program provides benefits to unemployed New Mexicans who have exhausted regular state benefits.

Martinez added that New Mexicans who receive benefits from this program have to speak to a human being at Workforce Solutions.

When asked about the long waits on the phone to reach an Unemployment Insurance Customer Service agent, Martinez said, "We've actually more than double the number of people that are handling those calls. We normally have 45 individuals. We now have 100 individuals at Workforce Solutions who are taking those calls."

“The biggest problem that is happening is people call, and they get put into what is called a cue, which is you get in line, and its first call in, is the first call handled. If you hang up, thinking that you're going to get in front of the line somehow, you're going to get in the back of the line and we have some people who have called hundreds of times,” Martinez said. “I’m sure [unemployed New Mexicans] are frustrated, but they have to stay on the line to be helped so the next customer service person can help them."